RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 553 



in a letter to Forest and Stream under date of March 28, 1886, in which he said: "As 

 far as I know, the large trout taken near Rangeley Dam a few years ago by the men 

 fishing for breeding purposes still stands at the head of the list of our large trout. I 

 did not see the fish weighed, but a man who did told me this afternoon that the weight 

 was an honest 12 pounds 2 ounces." 



In September, 1879, another large trout was heralded in the papers as weighing 

 12 pounds, caught by a Mr. Marble and his guide, Steve Morse, of Upton, at Upper 

 Dam, September 30. A correspondent of Forest and Stream who saw the fish weighed 

 stated that its actual weight, taken some time after the fish was caught, was iiK 

 pounds. 



Forest and Stream, July 8, 1886, published the following: 



The biggest brook trout. — We have to record the capture of brook trout weighing izyi pounds by 

 Mr. J. Frederic Grote, of 114 East Fourteenth Street, New York City, in Mooselucmaguntic Lake, Me., 

 on Jime 11. The fish was a female, and Mr. Grote kept it in a car for one week, when it died. It was 

 weighed several times at the Mooselucmaguntic House in the presence of John Schultz, of Philadelphia, 

 and the proprietors, Messrs. Crosby and Twombley. It was 26J-^ inches long, 17^^ inches girth, -j^ 

 inches deep, and 4 inches thick through the back. The guide was Jerry Ellis. * * * We believe 

 this to be the largest brook trout yet recorded. 



In Forest and Stream, June 23, 1887, George Shepard Page wrote in comment that 

 C. T. Richardson informed him that the trout was one that Jerry Ellis, Mr. Grote's 

 guide, called an 8-pound trout, but did not weigh it. After the entrails were removed, 

 having been in the car four days, it weighed 8K pounds. Commissioner H. O. Stanley 

 estimated the weight as %% or 9^2 pounds, basing his estimate on the known weight 

 of one of the same dimensions. 



Of trout weighing 11 pounds and over but below 12, the one previously referred to, 

 11 j4 pounds, caught by Steve Morse, guide to Mr. Marble, was taken September 29, 

 1879, and reported as a 12-pound fish. Doubtless ii^^ pounds is authentic. 



June 7, 1887, Dr. S. J. Mixter, of Boston, caught, by deep trolling with minnow 

 bait, three trout of the respective weights of iiK. 9%> and 6 pounds. In answer to 

 an inquiry by William C. Harris, publisher of the American Angler, regarding the 

 largest fish, C. T. Richardson stated that he saw the trout weighed after nearly i pint 

 of spawn had run out of her and the stated weight was absolutely correct. This record 

 is almost entitled to enter the 12-pound class. As it is, however, it is the largest fish 

 caught on a hook and line by an angler during the fishing season in the Rangeley Lakes. 

 Its length was 27^2 inches; depth, 8^ inches; thickness, 4 inches; girth, 20X inches. 



Of trout weighing from 10 pounds, inclusive, up to 11, there were 15, of which two of 

 10 and loK pounds, respectively, were taken on the spawning grounds in 1867; one of 

 10, also a spawner, taken in 1873; two of 10 each, also spawners, in 1878; one of 10% 

 and one of lOj^, taken in September, 1885, the latter having been caught by John 

 Prentice near Brandy Point. Regarding it the editor of Forest and Stream stated 

 that it was the third largest. One that weighed 10^ pounds nine hours after it was 

 caught was taken in June, 1886, by Dr. Charles Haddock, of Beverly, Mass. It was 

 said to be a "clean-cut, perfectly symmetrical fish 28K inches long and i6>^ inches 

 girth." This fish was again reported in Forest and Stream of July 27, 1895, with 

 exactly the same data, as having been caught that year. In 1888 one of xo% pounds 

 was taken in August, and another of loK in May, 1890. One of io>2 was taken in 



